Brad Dyksterhouse, senior vice president of business resource lending for The Bank of Holland, left, accepts the Michigan SBA Diversity Lender of the Year Award from Michigan SBA District Director Gerald Moore. The bank earned the honor for providing capital to military veterans, women and minority business owners in the West Michigan area. Courtesy The Bank of Holland

The U.S. Small Business Administration has honored The Bank of Holland with the agency’s Michigan SBA Diversity Lender of the Year Award.

The award is given to the bank that best demonstrates a commitment to providing guidance and capital to Michigan businesses owned by veterans, women and minorities, according to a statement from the SBA.

“The Bank of Holland takes great pride in helping these small businesses succeed,” said Brad Dyksterhouse, senior vice president of the bank’s business resource lending group. “We are uniquely positioned to use our extensive expertise, SBA Preferred Lender and Patriot Express Lender statuses, and targeted events to focus specific attention on lending to military veterans, women and minorities."

Allen Cook, assistant district director in the SBA’s Detroit office, said the bank earned the statewide award for ranking first in percentage of loans made to veteran-owned businesses and percentage of loans made to women-owned businesses, and fifth for percentage of loans made to minority-owned businesses. Cook said The Bank of Holland earned the state’s top spot for overall percentage of total loans made to these “historically underrepresented groups.”

Dyksterhouse said The Bank of Holland and its sister bank, The Bank of Northern Michigan, together consistently rank in the top 1 percent of all banks in the nation in SBA lending and have achieved the highest lending statuses with both SBA and USDA. Over the past several years, both banks have been recognized numerous times by both SBA and USDA for accomplishments in lending to Michigan’s small businesses.

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